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Author Topic: Warlord becoming the next GW?  (Read 18792 times)

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

  • Galactic Brain
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    • Ultravanillasmurf
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2020, 10:08:54 AM »
Now back to what was really being asked...

Well they do have one thing in common, a web site that does not engage me.

I now rarely look at either site.

I used to read the articles, they were generally interesting and would lead into some new addition to their ranges. Now, there might be articles, but they are deeply buried.

It seems to be an e-commerce only site ( I am old fashioned and buy from shops and shows - with the occasional bit of snail mail order - so it is of no interest).

I have no idea what their mail order is like (I stopped ordering from them when they stopped taking cheques https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheque).

Certainly from the above, it does sound like they have taken their eye off the ball - whether this is just that we expect GW levels of service, we think they are getting too big for their boots or that they are being rubbish I do not know.

They do make a number of nice tanks,though they do seem to trip over on obvious detail issues.

Offline Coenus Scaldingus

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 669
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2020, 11:01:25 AM »
And now today I see that they are putting up prices with no reason given (http://www.warlordgames.com/announcement-price-adjustments/)
"On the 3rd of February 2020 a number of our products will be subject to a price adjustment, following an increase in cost from our material suppliers."
First line of the page. About as much information I would expect from a company, and most miniature companies increase a few prices every now and then due to increases in postage or material costs. GW typically has no excuse, gives no or barely any heads up and certainly won't say in advance how much prices will go up by, nor typically on what sets.

As for general views on WG and their practices, I don't like them as much as I used to, but that's largely because they haven't released many things that I'm interested in. They started with some plastic and metal ancients, and most of those ranges have had relatively little expansion in the last years, although SPQR has recently been adding some models. Not interested in Bolt Action, nor Antares, nor their various boat/plane games, nor the various ranges and IPs they acquired over the years. If there is anything that reminds me of (modern) GW, it would be the hype and release of all these separate games that aren't meant to be long-term supported. I preferred it when they just made models that you could use with their rules or any others, and made games you could play with their miniatures or any others. Now, it appears SPQR only features factions they sell miniatures for...

Oh, and I hated it when the replaced their fairly nice plastic/metal hybrid Germanic Tribesmen with the topknot squad. Bloody topknots everywhere. Hate 'em.  lol
~Ad finem temporum~

Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2020, 11:53:31 AM »
If Warlord was all crap, or had always been crap, it would be easy to ignore them. The problem is, they have some stuff that is lovely and sometimes the vibe is spot on, then the reality and delivery of promises is so far from the expectation. I don't think they're bad people, so much as well meaning people who don't plan well enough and don't worry about ditching stuff they over-promised on.

I like the 'fun' idea of what they do, that when something interests them they pursue it, but I do think there's a huge disconnect between their ambition and their ability. They need hard nosed business people in a positions of real power in the company to tell them things they don't want to hear and get some professional practices in place when dealing with the flow from customer communication to swift resolution.

Around the time when the awful plastic Bolt Action stuff came out I switched off. The spin on each release and the 'Emperor's New Clothes' line of praising the unpraisable just flicked a valve in my brain and the trust was gone. Their habit of buying up smaller companies with the promise of expanding their lines and then killing them turns my stomach with the unpleasant whiff of more widespread shady business practice, and the desperate flogging of vanity projects were unwelcome distractions.

'Sir John ejaculated explosively, sitting up in his chair.' ... 'The Black Gang'.

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Offline jetengine

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 675
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2020, 12:23:44 PM »
Just to Clarify Warlord dont buy games, they distribute them. Terminator, Mongoose Dredd, Frostgrave, Test of Honour (kind of) or use Sprues they bought to make a game (Z War). Other times they just get first dibs on work, like Antares or Erewhon. Blood Red Skies for example was never originally meant to be s big deal. It was a museum piece, it just sold so hideously well they decided to make it a big thing

Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2020, 03:03:31 PM »
They've also bought figure lines over the years and then mothballed them.

Offline Shahbahraz

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1425
    • A Lead Odyssey
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2020, 05:28:16 PM »
My experience with Warlord has been generally very positive. Their customer service has been excellent, and the sales are good value. I have picked up a lot of their stuff for WW2 gaming over the years and a selection of their AWI plastics (Indians & Hessians).

What I do find annoying is the deprecation of some of their older and better lines, like the WW2 metals in favour of the plastics, sure for some of the metals you can still get them, but you pay a premium, then there's the incomplete ranges while they release yet another German tank variant. I guess they know what sells, but who is going to start collecting a range when there is little prospect of it ever being complete?
Wargaming since the dark ages...

---https://aleadodyssey.blogspot.com/---

Andrew_McGuire

  • Guest
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #21 on: January 18, 2020, 05:39:40 PM »
They're great if you like Zulus, though. That is, if you have Zulu OCD. You can currently get 1000 of them for £500.

BTW, they do still accept cheques.

Offline Atheling

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 11905
    • Just Add Water Wargaming Blog
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #22 on: January 18, 2020, 05:48:28 PM »
My experience with Warlord has been generally very positive. Their customer service has been excellent, and the sales are good value. I have picked up a lot of their stuff for WW2 gaming over the years and a selection of their AWI plastics (Indians & Hessians).

What I do find annoying is the deprecation of some of their older and better lines, like the WW2 metals in favour of the plastics, sure for some of the metals you can still get them, but you pay a premium, then there's the incomplete ranges while they release yet another German tank variant. I guess they know what sells, but who is going to start collecting a range when there is little prospect of it ever being complete?

If I have one major gripe, well it's two actually.

Warlord buy up 'lesser' businesses and seem to sit on things, neither moving the ranges further forward or not very far.

The tendency to mini monopolise like this is actually a danger to consumer choice.

Perhaps I'm taking it too seriously, but I do queue up at the supermarket with their job in mind making sure that I get served by a real person.

Offline mcfonz

  • Mastermind
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    • Poison Spurs - blog and reviews
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2020, 05:56:10 PM »
Buying up other companies and IP's and not giving them the attention they need to keep them going isn't a GW thing, it's a CMON thing. A business model where they bring ranges in by buying up smaller companies, squeeze them for their worth for a short burst and then a couple of years down the line they are mothballed.

As for becoming the next GW - they were set up and have been run since day one, by ex-GW staff. It's not a secret that they are either.

Their plastics are quite nice. Not as nice as Perry perhaps.
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Offline Codsticker

  • Supporting Adventurer
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    • Kodsticklerburg: A Mordheim project
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2020, 08:55:32 AM »
I would say they have very little in common with GW other than both entities sell little plastic and metal men.

Offline Atheling

  • Elder God
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Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #25 on: January 19, 2020, 08:57:57 AM »
I would say they have very little in common with GW other than both entities sell little plastic and metal men.

Even given that the top brass of their staff mostly come from GW?

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #26 on: January 19, 2020, 09:17:45 AM »
I would say they have very little in common with GW other than both entities sell little plastic and metal men.
Even given that the top brass of their staff mostly come from GW?
I would repeat my comment about which GW...

Offline Atheling

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Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #27 on: January 19, 2020, 10:16:54 AM »
Even given that the top brass of their staff mostly come from GW?

I would repeat my comment about which GW...

I read your post and I was making the same point ;) :)

Offline Duncan McDane

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1191
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #28 on: January 19, 2020, 10:26:26 AM »
Imho Warlord is asking people to pick up their items during clearance sales. Why invest in a game/miniatures we know it'll be forgotten/shelved/discontinued in about 18 months' time?
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Offline Atheling

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    • Just Add Water Wargaming Blog
Re: Warlord becoming the next GW?
« Reply #29 on: January 19, 2020, 12:08:05 PM »
Imho Warlord is asking people to pick up their items during clearance sales. Why invest in a game/miniatures we know it'll be forgotten/shelved/discontinued in about 18 months' time?

To be fair, I don't buy a lot of stuff from Warlord. I've only bought some of the old Saxon Miniatures Medieval Spain stuff, the Landsknecht stuff and one or two books- Hail Caesar and BP.

Apart from that I really don't have any interest in anything else.

What does bother me is their "Big bank east little bank" business model.